Darkest Souls Brightest Flames
by Ten-Tailed-God
Summary: A Throne that he didn't want and a life that was taken from him, what will a hollow do?
1. The Unwanted Throne

**We own absolutely NOTHING but the terrible jokes. Anyway onto the story.**

A man stood over the dissolving corpse of his enemy. The cheastplate of his armor had slashes gouged into it from the scythe that his enemy Nasshandra had wielded against him. His breathing was labored from the exertion of killing the two guards of the Throne of Want and Nasshandra right after one another. He heard a tapping of footsteps behind himself and turned with his Majestic Greatsword pointed towards the unknown threat.

The threat pounced at him in a flash of green and he dropped his blade in shock. Hugging his cheast tightly was his emerald herald. His Shanalotte, the woman who had been there for him since the beginning of his journey.

"Aden, I was worried." Her quiet voice told him. "I thought that Nasshandra might have killed you." She held him tighter as she said that. In response his steel gloved hands wrapped around Shanalotte's small frame.

"I could never leave you like that," he replied. "You're my reason to cling to sanity. To stop myself from hollowing every time I died." He removed his arms from the hug and lifted his steel helmet of the Faraam knights from his head. His spikey mane of white hair was released from the confines of his helmet while his red eyes stared into Shanalotte's uncovered brown eye. He pushed the bang of brown hair that covered her violet eye. His scar over his left eye was partially hidden due to the dim lighting of the throne room.

"Aden, what will you do now that you're here?" Shanalotte asked him.

"I wanted to end the threat that Nasshandra posed to the throne, other than that I planned to remain with you." He said to her softly. Shanalotte developed a small smile on her face at that revelation. In any other situation, she would have been appalled since that would mean her quest to continue the Age of Fire would be at an end, her mission that she was literally made for. But this one hollow, no this man Aden had managed to worm his way into her heart.

"Then shall we leave?" She asked. Aden was about to respond until an eruption of fire occurred behind him causing him and Shanalotte to be launched a few feet backwards. From the eruption a twisted and knarled mass of roots formed a face of a man that Aden had not seen in a while.

"Greetings young hollow! It is quite pleasant that you have managed to get this far, and with former king Vendrick's blessing no doubt!" The face said jovially.

"Aldia, it has been a while. But how did you know of your brother's blessing?" Aden asked while he and Shanalotte rose back to their feet.

"I knew of Vendrick's blessing the moment I saw those crowns you carry on you." Aldia replied while nodding his head towards the crowns tied to Aden's belt.

"Well Aldia, besides that I think that my work is done here. Me and Shanalotte will be leaving this place behind. The Age of Fire and all of it's cycles will continue regardless of my choice." Aden said to Aldia.

"Yes you are correct young hollow. But you do not know everything about the cycles." Aldia replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Aden asked.

"The Age of Fire can continue on forever if the right requirements are met." Aldia replied. Aden looked at Shanalotte who shrugged her shoulders. "You young hollow are that requirement." Aden and Shanalotte looked in shock at Aldia. "You see, every time there was a chosen undead who would rekindle the flame, they would always burn out in the end due to them hollowing, but you on the otherhand can't hollow because of those crowns you carry." Aden stood in contemplation of Aldia's knowledge and what he would have to sacrifice. He looked at Shanalotte who would once again be all alone if he left her. After enough time had gone by Aden looked at Aldia with determination.

"I won't sacrifice myself, I'll find another way." Aden replied to Aldia. The mass of roots then started to laugh. "What's so funny?" Aden asked.

"Who said you ever had a choice in the matter." Aldia replied with a sneer. From behind Aden and Shanalotte a root erupted from the ground and wrapped itself around Shanalotte before pulling her away from his hands. Shanalotte gasped at the discomfort of the burning root that was pulling her away from Aden.

"What the hell are you doing Aldia?!" Aden screamed at the face of roots.

"Oh young hollow, how naïve you are. I find it funny that you even believed that I was Aldia. But no." Aden brandished his sword in both of his hands.

"Who. Are. You?" Aden asked. His face paled as he felt the familiar rush of adrenaline course through his body.

"I was once a great king. I ruled as Gwyn former Lord of Sunlight and Cinder. But one day a fool like you came along and ended my reign. I do not expect you to know my name or titles but I do think you would know that I was the first to sacrifice myself to the Flame." The one known as Gwyn responded. Aden and Shanalotte's eyes opened wide at this revelation.

"Then why did you assume the name of my father?" Shanalotte asked angrily.

"It is because while I may have lost my body to the First Flame, I did not lose my soul. On the other hand Aldia lost his soul but not his body. So I did what any other man in my shoes would have done and took the empty vessel that remained." Gwyn explained.

"I don't care about any of that. What I care about is leaving this place with Shanalotte. You can keep your damn crowns if you want them!" With that Aden removed the four crown of each of the fallen kings and threw them at Gwyn. All of them landed in the lava that puddle around his face before sinking in.

"I'm afraid that the blessing of Vendrick can only be used by you. So that means that," More roots exploded from the ground. "You must be forced." Gwyn said menacingly.

"Bring it!" Aden replied. As soon as he said that the roots rushed at him. Aden used his sword's ability to flip over the first roots that came after him before slashing down and cutting them off from their source. More roots came at him from all around he instead let his right hand come off the greatsword and spun in a circle with his blade which chopped more roots down.

"I commend you young hollow, but you do not nave what it takes to defeat me." Aldia stated to Aden. Aden hardly paid it much mind as he continued to slice down the flaming vegetation surrounding him. He felt a rising pressure from the ground and tried to jump away from it due to expecting another root. To his surprise it was a flaming explosion which launched him a few feet backwards until he was on his back.

"Aden!" he heard Shanalotte scream. Aden tried to lift himself upwards but a root crashed down onto his body.

"Give up young hollow and make this easy on yourself." Gwyn told Aden. Aden in his addled mind thought of his offer.

"Aden, do not give up. Show me that the man I chose to fall in love with is still going to honor his promise of taking me away from Drangl-!" Shanalotte shouted out to Aden until she felt the root that held her tighten, cutting off her breath.

"Quiet dragon-spawn. I will not have you give him any ideas." Gwyn angrily said to her.

"Gwyn or Aldia or whoever the hell your name is, I am going to shove my sword where your eye should be for doing that to Shanalotte!" Aden said as he used his sword to pull himself off the ground.

"Now eat shit and die!" Aden shouted before charging at Gwyn. His muscles protested violently at moving but Aden ignored it, his mind swam due to being slammed into the ground but his rage tempered it, his right arm was unable to grip his sword due to being broken from the root falling on him but he only needed one hand to finish his battle. He rolled around the many roots that tried to crush him and dodged the explosions that came from the ground until finally he was at Gwyn's face and he stabbed at the glowing hole where Gwyn's eye should be. A scream was heard as his sword plunged into his foe he did not know if it was he or Gwyn who screamed.

Finally the light in Gwyn's eye died out until it became black like the abyss. Aden pulled his sword out before collapsing to his knees. The roots that were summoned by Gwyn disappeared which freed Shanalotte who ran towards his side.

"Aden my love, where did you put your life gems?" Shanalotte asked worried. Aden couldn't tell if he said anything as his lips moved but apparently he did because Shanalotte pulled his last gem out. She removed his sword from his left hand gently before putting the gem in his hand and crushed it. Aden slowly started to feel the effects of the healing as he could now think clearly and his right arm could now be moved without feeling too much pain.

"Shanalotte, lets go home." Aden said to her meekly. Shanalotte nodded before she put his sword in his left hand in order to use it as a crutch. She lifted his right arm over her shoulders and they both pushed themselves off the ground.

As they were leaving they did not notice as the face of roots started to twitch. The couple instead slowly made their way to the great arch until a mass of roots from the ground and blocked the entrance. The couple looked back in fear as Gwyn became surrounded by fire. This fire started to burn down the roots that made up the head of Gwyn. "Young hollow, I am tired of playing this game! IT ENDS HERE AND NOW!" Gwyn shouted before roots grabbed the wrists and ankles of the couple and lifted them both a few feet off the ground. They both struggled but in the end they were utterly helpless.

Before them the face of roots was now ashes but what was left was a giant of a man. He wore what remained of royal garb that was white with ashes. His face was one covered in a mass of hair that made up his beard and head. "Look and tremble for you now see the face of Gwyn!" The man, no god stated to them. Gwyn looked down at the crowns or at least what remained of the slag that made them up. A tut tuting sound could be heard from Gwyn as he picked up the slag and walked towards the couple.

"This could have been easy but you had to make it difficult for me, now I must do the same." With that he stuck his hand that was covered in slag through Aden's cheast. Aden screamed.

"What are you doing to him!" Shanalotte cried out in terror for Aden as his screaming went on with Gwyn's hand inside his cheast.

"I am just making sure that he cannot abandon his duties." Gwyn replied before pulling his hand out of Aden's cheast. Where there was once slag there was now nothing. Aden's cheast on the other hand was glowing red with the molten metel inside of him. Gwyn then threw a flame before Aden which started to heal his wounds. Aden still screamed in pain as the metal cooled inside himself. His vision was darkening from the pain that he felt but he kept himself awake.

"Aden it is time. Now accept your throne." The roots released Aden which caused him to collapse on the ground. Gwyn then grabbed Aden by the fur that was strapped to his armor and dragged him towards the door to the throne. All around them the cheast's of the stone golems turned blue and they all moved before converging into a platform before the two. Aden tried to fight back but any struggles he made Gwyn just ignored until he dragged Aden to the throne. And threw him upon it. Aden looked up as Gwyn walked away and the doors of the throne closed before him. No this is not how it should end. Aden pulled himself off the throne and dragged himself on the ash covered floor towards his slowly closing exit.

He wasn't going to make it. "NOOOOOOOOO!" Aden reached out futilely as the door was closing. He could see the tears falling from Shanalotte's eyes from here.

"Do not worry young king, I will take care of your dragon-spawn for you." Gwyn said as he looked hungrily at Shanalotte's form.

'This can't happen! This can't be happening! Noooooooooooooooooo!' Aden thought as the doors finally shut. He was alone. He screamed and raged as he bashed his hand against the door. After a time he stopped. He felt tears start to drip down his face. The bleakness of his situation finally settling inside himself. Then he felt the fire and turned to see his throne ablaze. The flames hungrily licking at the chair before they spread outwards. His thoughts before the pain hit him was to be with Shanalotte. Then he screamed.

 **Chapter One is Done. Pretty depressing. But hey, welcome to Dark Souls. This will be a multicrossover so wait. Also, I'm back.**


	2. The Burned Escape

How long had he spent in this torment. Aden did not know. His only constant in life had been the immense pain from the fire that tried to consume him. His body was still human but after all this time his armor and clothes had either burned or melted off to join the pile of ashes that surrounded the Throne of Want. What a joke, who would want this agony? Aden after a time learned how to cope and adapt with the pain. After all he had to learn how to adapt while traversing Drangleic.

His mind while not focusing upon the pain was also focusing on the rage of the one known as Gwyn and how he took everything. He thought of Shanalotte and what she must be going through. As time passed the rage grew like the flame he was surrounded by.

When he first ended up in this room he kept bashing his fists against the walls in some effort to give himself hope but after a while he stopped. He went on to eventually pace his prison until that novelty eventually wore off. He tried to do anything to take his mind off this place from talking to himself to building castles with the ashes he was surrounded by. After all that he eventually gave up and sat on his throne and slept.

His dreams were always a blessing he looked forward to. Usually they were in Majula where he and Shanalotte first met.

 _As the newest hollow to reach Drangleic he walked with utter confidence through the Things Betwixt. He wore a brown leather longcoat and wielded a scimitar and a short sword. A hood was worn on his head while leather gloves gripped his blades tightly. His boots trudged through the narrow platforms of this place._

" _How is this place being held together?" He said aloud to no one in particular. He kept walking straight and ignored the other paths before himself. As he walked he eventually saw a cave before himself so he took off at a sprint. When he was inside the cave he noticed a bunch of orange messages that lit up at his feet. He read a few to himself. 'Praise the Sun. What the hell does that mean?' He thought to himself._

 _When Aden reached the edge of the cave he saw a breath taking sight of a cliff that had a massive pillar on it. The sun was at the edge of the horizon and shined out a golden light upon this little place. He decided to go down the path towards the area. Upon reaching it he was met with a bonfire that had a woman covered in an emerald cloak sitting by it. When he approached the woman looked up revealing a pretty face to him._

" _Are you the next monarch? Or…merely a pawn of fate?" The woman asked him in a soft voice. Aden scratched the head in confusion._

" _What?" Aden asked confused. Why was this pretty girl asking if he was a king? And what the hell was a pawn of fate? The woman's eyes widened a bit before returning back to normal._

" _Bearer of the curse... I will remain by your side. Till this frail hope shatters... Take this with you. May it ease your journey. Go on, and see the King. He who made Drangleic what it once was; he who peered at the essence of the soul. King Vendrick." She stated before handing him an empty green bottle that he somehow knew was called an estus flask._

" _Alright pretty lady. But do you have anything you call yourself so I don't just keep calling you lady?" Aden asked. Shanalotte slightly blushed under her hood at hearing some praise about her._

" _You may call me the emerald herald. You have not earned my name yet." She responded. Aden smiled at this._

" _Then my first goal in this place will be to earn you name!" He shouted out with pride which caused the man sitting by the monolith to look at him strangely before he went back to brooding. Shanalotte smiled at this._

" _Then good luck." She replied._

" _Herald, I think this is the start to a beautiful friendship." He stated to her._

Aden shook his head at this memory. The memory of one who was free. He became angered at this. The fire around him responded by feeding on this anger and growing. Aden felt the sting as the fire grew and his anger rose in response which made the fire grow until it was hitting the ceiling of his tomb. Aden didn't care though he wished to rage and the flame responded to his whim which was causing the flame to now put pressure on the walls of the tomb. They shifted to the tiny cracks in the walls in order to make room for the growing bulk of itself. The cracks widened as the flames probed the walls. One of the flames finally managed to push enough till the crack where it pushed broke. The flames felt this and responded by shoving it's girth through the broken area which made the opening wider and wider. All of these flames were driven by one purpose…freedom.

Aden was lost in his rage until he heard a large crack as the walls around him started breaking. "What the hell?" He asked. He just watched as his impenetrable prison was finally breaking apart. A smile came upon his face as he laughed. Then the ground started to rumble. He ignored the rumbling as he kept laughing until everything broke and the fire around him became a bright blue before turning into a blinding white light. And that was all he remembered.

Outside of his tomb the flames created a massive white pillar the rose into the sky. All around the kingdom, citizens that had settled around this area cried out in panic at what was happening. Inside the castle itself the lord of the castle Gwyn, stared at the pillar that went through his throne room and up into the ceiling. His subjects that were gathered near him were running out of the room while his guards came in to protect their lord. The only being that was still in the room with Gwyn and his guards was a woman in a red dress that hugged her curves. She had brown hair that went to the small of her back while her bangs covered her eyes. "My lord what is happening?" She said in a soft monotone voice.

"The hollow has managed to escape his duties. We must recapture him. My kingdom will not fall again." Gwyn stated. "Yeager! I have need of you!" Gwyn shouted. After a few seconds a man in a black cloak came from the line of guards. He went before Gwyn and kneeled.

"My lord, what is it?" Yeager asked.

"As the only hollow in this kingdom, I need you to travel through the flames in order to recapture the hollow known as Aden." Gwyn commanded to his hunter. The man nodded and then stood. He slowly approached the pillar of white flame. He stuck his hand at it before he disappeared in a cloud of ashes.

Gwyn turned his head towards the woman in red. "Come, I have need of you in my bedchamber before I prepare for battle." Gwyn then left the throne room with his regiment of guards leaving the woman behind. The woman shed a tear before following Gwyn out of the throne room.

Meanwhile all around the multiverse twisted swords rose from the ground while fires ignited from the blades of those weapons. One of these newly created bonfires led to outside a cathedral and into a cemetery.

On the cathedral a being of stared with many eyes in fascination at this fire that radiated power. It lowered its body slowly from its place on the cathedral with its many arms until it reached the ground. The being crawled forward in an alien feeling of excitement toward this new power. It reached out a hand to feel the warmth of this…treasure until the fire started fluctuating. It pulled it's hand back in a new feeling of fright. The fire started to turn white. The creature was afraid now as it screeched before trying to move away from the light. Unfortunately it's last feeling was fear as the being was turned to ashes as well as the surrounding area.

From the ashes a white haired man with glowing red eyes rose from the ground naked. On his body there were multiple scars but what really was brought to attention was a glowing piece of red hot metal that appeared to be embedded into his skin. The man walked forward a few paces before collapsing to the ground. Inside the chapel the inhabitants heard all the noise and a few of them came outside to see what all the commotion was about. Of them an androgynous figure in a red cloak who crawled outside, and a woman in a black robe with a white sash around the waist and white gloves. She had a visible face of pale skin and brown hair that was bound behind her head.

"Can you see what it is?" The cloaked figure asked in a soft voice.

"It's a man. And he's in a crater. He does not look like a hunter. We should probably take him inside." She responded.

"Alright then. Let's hurry. The beasts might have heard so we haven't much time to doddle." The figure said before lifting their head up in the air revealing a face of pale blue skin and eyes that were blind to the world. The figure sniffed the area for the metallic scent of blood before nodding their assurance of no beasts in the area. The woman ran over to the man before grabbing both of his hands and dragging him out of the crater.

For the next minute the woman dragged the man on the ground and into the chapel while the figure in the red cloak sniffed the air for danger. They eventually made it inside where they lean the man onto the wall.

"What's this thing?!" A man in the corner of the chapel shouted out. He wore a worn brown hat, a brown waistcoat, a white shirt and pale burgundy trousers. He was and old soul on this night of a full white moon.

"It's someone who needed help. I'm so happy that my chapel could provide protection for another!" The cloaked one said in soft spoken joy.

"Probably is just a beast, you should kill it and be done with the mess." The man responded. His distrust of the cloaked one being for once overshadowed by another.

"We should help this one. It is probably a sign from the gods that he was brought to us." The Sister responded while holding her hands together in prayer.

"Where did this beast come from then you blood church goer?" The distrustful man asked. The sister stopped her prayer and looked at him.

"He came from an ash filled crater outside." She responded before walking towards the unconscious man and examining him. She took a step back when she noticed the sizzling sound coming from his cheast and saw the glowing metal located there. "Someone get me some water, quickly!" She asked. The narrow minded man sighed before removing a flask of water from his waist coat and tossing it over to Adella. Adella fumbled with the flask before finally getting a good grip on it. "The gods bless thee sir!" Adella said with a smile towards the man.

"Damn your gods, they probably left us to rot here for all the good they do." The man replied. Adella ignored the man and poured the water on the glowing metal which caused a sizzling and a cloud of steam to be released. The metal now shined a silver color. It was still warm but no longer was it hot to the touch.

The man groaned as he started to open his eyes. "Easy now, you're quite injured. Thankfully we found you out there when we did or the beast might have had you." The cloaked figure spoke to the man.

"Wh-where am I?" He asked. The cloaked one gave him a strange look before replying.

"We're in Yharnam right now. You must've hit your head if you couldn't even remember where we are." The figure responded.

"What the hell's a Yharnam?"

 **Chapter tw- bzzzt - WE ARE SORRY TO IMFORM YOU EARTHLINGS BUT YOUR CHAPTER HAS CONCLUDED. GO HOME, NOTHING TO SEE HERE. 01101101 01111001 00100000 01101111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110010 01111001 00100000 01100100 01110010 01100001 01100111 01101111 01101110 01110011 00100000 01100111 01110010 01100001 01101110 01100100 01100110 01100001 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101110 01101110 01100001 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01110101 01110000 01101100 01101111 01100001 01100100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101110 01100101 01111000 01110100 00100000 01110111 01100101 01100101 01101011 00100000 01110011 01101111 00100000 01100011 01101000 01100101 01100011 01101011 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110100.**

 **Ehem… What they said.**


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